This invention relates to an engine output drive arrangement and more particularly to an improved and compact power take-off arrangement for an internal combustion engine.
As is well known, the internal combustion engines employed for powering motor vehicles such as automobiles are becoming extremely compact and yet are nevertheless called upon to drive a greater and greater number of engine and vehicle accessories. As the engine becomes more compact and as the number of accessories driven increases, the serviceability of the engine becomes quite a problem. These problems are particularly acute in conjunction with a form of engine placement wherein the engine output shaft runs transversely of the engine compartment rather than longitudinally of the engine compartment (east/west vs. north/south).
A type of engine arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,287, entitled "Engine Unit for Vehicles," issued Jun. 18, 1991 in the names of Kaoru Okui and Manabu Kobayashi, which patent is assigned to the assignee hereof. In accordance with the disclosure shown in that patent, and particularly the embodiment of FIGS. 6-8 thereof, an extremely compact engine arrangement is provided. This is accomplished by having the engine output shaft drive a driveshaft that is rotatable about an axis that is parallel to but offset from the axis of rotation of the engine output shaft. The driveshaft actually drives the vehicle through a flywheel that is positioned at one end of the driveshaft and which overlaps in part the engine output shaft. The drive for the driveshaft is taken from between the ends of the engine output shaft. In addition, the overhead camshafts for the engine are also driven by this drive shaft.
Although that arrangement has the advantages as aforenoted, because of the fact that the driveshaft is driven at a point offset from the ends of the engine output shaft, torsional loading may be placed on the driveshaft.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved and compact engine drive arrangement wherein torsional loadings on the driveshaft are substantially reduced from prior art type of constructions.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved, compact drive arrangement for an engine driveshaft wherein torsional loadings are reduced without any sacrifice in the compact construction of the engine.